Somalia

One thing's for certain: The U.S. won't intervene militarily. We can talk big about the War on Terrorism and islamo-Fascism, but it will never happen.

<nodding>

bookmarking

especially in Somalia. Remember 1992? Black hawk down? Somalia is terra non grata for americans for many more years to come. Those old images of dead American soldiers being dragged across town would be pulled right up and no administration will ever risk having to deal with that. Sad, but such is the political life.

Not until someone can run their car off of gypsum.

Houston Chronicle

not when there is no oil involved..

and the sad thing is , THIS would be a good time for america to " go be the bully"

Shewolf - is it? How so?

Bush is now considering sending up to 30,000 more troops to Iraq, and there is no way he can start a war in Somalia. But Iran is another matter...

Don't get me started, CI.


On Somalia, I - ok, stupida, haven't been paying enough attention. My first and undoubtedly not last view is good for Ethiopia.

But, of course that is a superficial take.

I had friends back in the seventies, via my medical world, who were both Eritrean and Ethiopian, hard as that might be to fathom, then.

I'm really a no-nothing on this, but can feel the panic of ethiopians.

Ethiopian Warplanes Attack Somalia

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/world/africa/24cnd-somalia.html?hp&ex=1167022800&en=7190c64e905ada39&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Ethiopia and Somalia have not gotten along for decades. This, like so many wars, will not be noticed by most of the rest of the world.
CI: Have you visited either country in your travels? I was in Ethiopia in 1973 or so. I saw the spring from which the Blue Nile came. Half of the great Nile River that joins the White Nile in Sudan and flows through Egypt.

rjb, The only African countries I have visited are Morocco (stationed there in the late fifties with the US Air Force), Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. I hope to visit Tunisia and Libya some day.

I guess it was 1973 that I started my trek through Africa. Egypt was first. They were just coming out of another war with Israel, and there were still lots of soldiers with guns in Cairo, particularly around the government buildings and the fantastic museum. Not well displayed, but just the massive amount of stuff that they there had was awesome.
Foreigners could only visit Alexandria, Cairo, Luxor and Aswan and only by public transport. So hitch-hiking was out. I rode the train, buying the cheapest coach ticket. I, the only foreigner, got along fine with the other folks in that crowded car. But each evening, when it started to get dark and the children started to doze off, the police would put me in a roomette.
I rode up Lake Nassar into Sudan on the deck of a barge and then to Khartoum on the cheapest seat: on the roof of the train through the desert. Khartoum has a great name and a long history, but there really isn't much there. And it was hot. Really, really hot. I hung out at the British embassy's library which was air conditioned
And I stole two rolls of toilet paper from the American embassy with the Marine guard, saying nothing, looking the other way.
Some time later, not too long later, the US embassy was attacked and our ambassador and a couple of Marines were killed. The ambassador's name was, as I recall, Noel. Ironic name.
I rode the roof of the train towards the Ethiopian border. I, the only white person on board. Everyone staring at me, including this strinking 18 or so year old guy with chocalate colored skin and even darker brown eyes and hair intricately braided. Staring at me with my white skin and blue eyes and long blond hair.
The border with Ethiopia was closed due to some dispute about something. I languished around for a day before taking the shortest plane trip perhaps anywhere. From takeoff through landing was all of 15 minutes, on a DC-3 plane. Now the DC-3's were incredible airplanes but one is left to wonder whether this DC-3 was ever given the routine maintenance it was supposed to get.
But I made it over the border and got to Asmara. A fantastic small city that still had the flavor of its past as an Italian colony. I stayed there for a week or so before walking and hitching south
I visited some churches carved out of the stone (I can't remember the name of the place-something like Llubelw) and I did stand at the place where the spring that becomes the Blue Nile starts, eventually hooking up with the other branch, the White Nile, down in Khartoum.

I went on a day or so and ended up walking the last 20 or so miles into Addis Ababa. Ant that was when the reality of Africa set in. I met people walking towards me and past me heading in the other direction. And eventually I caught up with folks heading into the city with firewood, mere sticks really, on their backs or balanced on theiri heads. One day out and one day in with three days of wood.

That was back in 1973, back when I was just starting through Africa. Things haven't gotten any better since then. With HIV-Aids running rampant, with the endless fighting and the endemic corruption, and with Western countries disinterested, the plight of Africans gets worse and worse.

And tonight, this holiest of Christian nights...

rjb, Intersting travelogue on your trek that I would never have considered or dreamed of doing even when much younger.

Your's is that kind of stuff that makes great stories, because they are unique and adventurous - surviving on your own by hook or by crook. It takes guts and more to even consider what you have done.

Yes, I do a lot of world travel today, but it's hardly the stuff of bare-bones adventure. We usually stay in comfortable hotels or cabins with showers, and enjoy three meals every day - if not more. I find myself enjoying cruises more as I age, because one has only to unpack and pack only once to visit many places. My roommate and I have two long cruises already booked for 2007. The first is a 24 day cruise from Buenos Aires to Barcelona in March, then a 26-day cruise from Rome to Ft Lauderdale in November. One January 2, we'll be on a 10-day cruise to the Caribbean.

Life is hard.

There's a somalia-ethiopia time line here: BBC

Well, thats two predictions made here disproven unexpectedly the last coupla weeks: the US did get involved militarily, and the events in Somalia did keep making the headlines in our media (over here, anyway).

so here's bookmarking for further developments..

Well, thats two predictions made here disproven unexpectedly the last coupla weeks: the US did get involved militarily, and the events in Somalia did keep making the headlines in our media (over here, anyway).

so here's bookmarking for further developments..

somalia security gap - VOA